Biggest Takeaways From Capitals GM Chris Patrick's Mid-Season Presser
The Capitals GM met with the media on Friday.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — With the season halfway over with, general manager Chris Patrick sat down on Friday to speak with the media, sharing his thoughts on the state of the Washington Capitals and more.
To start things off, he addressed just how much injuries have taken a toll, and how they’ve played a factor in the team’s inconsistency to date.
“This year, right away, felt like right away, Halloween, we lose Pierre-Luc (Duubois), which was a big loss to the group;. That kind of started the adversity,” Patrick pointed out, adding, “We’re still right there, standings-wise and the league is extremely tight… if we can get healthy and stay healthy, we’ll be in hopefully a good spot to make a push.”
Patrick also took the time to speak on the futures of Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson, areas where the team is looking to add and more.
That said, here are the biggest takeaways from Patrick’s press conference.
Patrick has spoken with captain Alex Ovechkin about team-specific needs, but said there have been no discussions regarding a potential extension or his NHL future beyond this season. He’s focused on the short-term and helping the team return to the playoffs, so there is no update there.
However, the Capitals have opened conversations with John Carlson and his agent, and they will continue to speak regarding a possible extension.
Washington’s biggest need: “A higher-end skilled winger,” Patrick explained.
The Olympic break could pose a good time for general managers to discuss potential deals as buyers and sellers begin to emerge with time, though the Capitals don’t want to give up high-end prospects or key pieces of the future.
Cole Hutson is in a similar situation to Ryan Leonard’s last year; the team is giving him the space he needs to finish the season, and then will touch base with him at the end of the NCAA season. If he’s ready to make the jump, the Capitals will be happy to have him.
Speaking of Hutson, the Capitals did check in about Quinn Hughes, though they didn’t want to pay the price of Hutson or a high-end prospect, which was apparently the ask.
Washington has really liked what it’s seen from Ilya Protas so far this season, and he is among the players that the team wants to see up in the NHL at some point. Of course, the “right situation” has to arise for him to come up.
When it comes to call-ups in general, Patrick did say that some of the young players and top prospects in Hershey could end up getting a look at some point down the stretch if D.C. is still in need of a solution to its offense up front.
The reason they haven’t rushed Protas or others up to the big club yet: “You just ant to make sure you’re putting these guys in a position to have success intitally, especially if it’s their first time playing in the NHL.”
Ivan Miroshnichenko has only played two games up with Washington this season and hasn’t been a go-to call-up, and the reason why is because of the injury at the start of the season, but also because the team would rather him be in Hershey playing rather than coming up to be a healthy scratch. “We want to try to get him in the lineup as much as possible.”